RANCHI: In a horrific incident, a 60-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by three men and then strangled to death on suspicion of practising black-magic in West Singhbhum. According to the police, all three accused persons have been arrested based on a complaint filed by the woman's husband.
During interrogation, one of the accused made a startling revelation. One of them claimed that his one-year-old child had been unwell for a long time, and rumours spread in the village that the woman was a “witch” responsible for the child’s illness. Driven by superstition, the accused, along with his two accomplices, barged into the woman’s house on the night of October 12, gang-raped her, and strangled her to death.
The police informed that the victim was the second wife of a 60-year-old man residing at a village under Ghagharbeda police station in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district. They further added that she was living separately from her husband in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.
The Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) confirmed that the child's father, along with two of his accomplices, entered the victim's home and committed the crime on Sunday night. “The incident occurred Sunday night; the three accused raped and strangled her to death in her home,” said Jagannathpur SDPO Rafael Murmu.
Then, they took the body to a check-dam and covered it with stones; had it not been recovered, it would have decomposed there after a few days, he added. The SDPO said that the FIR was filed on Wednesday, based on her husband's statement, who was informed about the incident a bit late. The body has been sent for post-mortem, he said.